The two-day, one-night stage greeting schedule in Daegu and Busan ended safely without any issues.
Taeha didn’t even need to take the lead here. The other actors had already adjusted to the strangely intense atmosphere unique to < Killer X Killer >.
Lee Seok-hyun naturally calmed the audience, Kyung Juncheol gave greetings with a cheerful vibe, and Go Dong-pal led an event where he signed the back of photo card holders. Thanks to them, Taeha was able to carry out the successful stage greetings without much effort.
Perhaps because of that, stories about how generous the stage greetings for < Killer X Killer > were began appearing on various SNS and community sites.
Maybe that was why the performance of < Killer X Killer > progressed steadily toward the goal of ten million viewers. The evidence was that it had already recorded 6.11 million by its second week. At this rate, it seemed likely to reach ten million by the fifth week.
However, it seemed difficult for it to enter the top ten list of all-time movie rankings. Breaking into the top thirty would likely be the limit.
While that was a bit disappointing, it couldn’t be helped. In fact, it should be viewed positively. Since the pandemic, only two films had surpassed ten million viewers. If < Killer X Killer > truly exceeded ten million, it would be the third record since the pandemic began.
And this might be a more remarkable feat than simply ranking thirtieth on the all-time list. The film market was just that difficult. There were even grim rumors that Netflix, which had been actively investing in the Korean content market and mass-producing original works, might withdraw its investment.
As the performance of < Killer X Killer > sailed along like a lonely sailboat in the film industry, Taeha finished the third week of the stage greeting schedule.
There was talk that if they truly surpassed ten million in the fifth week, they might do another round of stage greetings to express their gratitude. However, for now, the official promotional schedule was considered over.
After handling the difficult schedule for three consecutive weekends, Taeha returned home and slumped onto the living room sofa, lost in thought.
‘The journey of < Killer X Killer > is slowly coming to an end.’
To be honest, it wasn’t a physically demanding schedule. If anything, spending a night in Gwanganli for the Daegu and Busan greetings was the hardest part. However, Taeha didn’t feel any particular physical difficulty from such a schedule. Rather, relaxing at a five-star hotel for a day and having a drink of soju with *nak-gop-sae* alongside Lee Seok-hyun, Kyung Juncheol, and Go Dong-pal felt like one of life’s greatest pleasures.
That didn’t mean there were no difficulties at all. Repeatedly meeting around 150 people with high intensity was a task. There was no way such a job wouldn’t be mentally taxing. This was exactly why Taeha made sure to rest for two weekdays in exchange for working the two days of the weekend.
As for the remaining three days of the week…
‘I was busy designing a new drama, choosing my next project, and attending meetings for ad modeling.’
Designing the drama and choosing the next project were expected tasks. However, he hadn’t expected the meetings for advertising models at all. He hadn’t realized so many ad proposals would come in. In the end, Taeha had finalized three advertising offers.
The first was an advertisement for a hangover cure. The top two companies in the hangover cure industry already had prominent models, and the offer Taeha received was from the third-ranked company, Shinyoung.
However, Shinyoung wasn’t a company to be taken lightly. Only their hangover cure, “Morning Call,” was third in its market; many of the other food products sold by the company were famous. In fact, if the scope was widened to the food market as a whole, Shinyoung’s market share was second only to C-Jes. Therefore, it was a very good opportunity for Taeha.
‘The modeling fee is also quite high, almost more than what you’d expect for a third-ranked product.’
The next one he finalized was for a men’s casual brand called Phillip. Phillip was a domestic brand that had enjoyed great popularity in the mid-2000s by introducing colorful clothing and opening many offline stores. Currently, it was highly regarded for its excellent value for money and for sticking to basic items.
While it didn’t match the recognition of famous SPA brands, it was far more meaningful than just any random brand. For that reason, Taeha was able to accept Phillip’s proposal without much hesitation.
‘I’ve always wanted to be a model for a fashion brand. If it’s Phillip, it’s not a bad start.’
Lastly, Taeha chose a modeling offer for a stealth-action mobile game called Assassin. The reason he received an offer for this game, which dealt with the story of a contract killer in a modern setting, was naturally thanks to his appearance in < Killer X Killer >. The background and characters of < Killer X Killer > reminded people of the game.
Actually, he had hesitated a bit while accepting this offer. While modeling for mobile games paid a high guarantee, it could be bad for his image. It wasn’t for any other reason than the fact that things like medieval knight armor or magical skill effects in those ads often made viewers cringe.
In fact, several mobile game offers had already been rejected by Im Chan-hyung for this reason. However, since Assassin was a game set in modern times where he could film the ad wearing a leather jacket, the burden in that regard was definitely less. There was almost no damage to his image.
‘If anything, it’s an opportunity to promote < Killer X Killer >, which is currently in theaters, even just a little bit more.’
Thus, after carefully reviewing the modeling proposals with Im Chan-hyung, Taeha confirmed the three advertising contracts.
Im Chan-hyung’s contribution was certainly significant when it came to the advertisements. Not only did he meticulously review each proposal and filter out what Taeha could and couldn’t do based on his schedule, but he was also deeply involved in the final contract negotiations. Thanks to him, Taeha didn’t have to expend much energy on those matters.
Now, all that remained was to start filming the advertisements next week. Although the stage greeting schedule was over, the advertising schedule was waiting for him.
‘It’s a new challenge. It’s also something that requires a lot of attention.’
However, Taeha wasn’t too worried. Filming an advertisement was something that could yield decent results as long as he did his best on-set. In fact, from the planning of the ad to selecting the model and creating the concept… there was naturally very little that Taeha could get deeply involved in. He just had to follow what they decided, provided it didn’t harm his image.
As long as he didn’t forget his professionalism, the ad filming could proceed without any major issues.
‘Above all, Chan-hyung is meticulously organizing even the information I need to know before the shoot.’
Im Chan-hyung had clearly learned something from the Maskleum incident. Perhaps because of that, he thoroughly researched and provided Taeha with information about the clients, the advertising team staff, and the commercial directors. It was a measure to help Taeha blend into the set easily and give a good image to those in the advertising industry.
Upon receiving the materials, Taeha felt his mind at ease. The quality of the materials Im Chan-hyung prepared was higher than expected. That was why his current worries about the ads were fading.
‘Rather than those issues, my real concern is designing the drama and choosing my next project.’
Between the two, the relatively less important one was the choice of his next project. Because of the success of < Killer X Killer >, offers to take on lead roles were pouring in for Taeha. This meant he just had to pick out a good work from the mountain of scripts and scenarios.
It didn’t matter if it took a lot of time. The shelf life of a ten-million-viewer movie was longer than one might think. If anything, it was better to be more cautious about choosing the next project now. If the next project didn’t yield good results, the shelf life of a ten-million-viewer movie and everything else could disappear.
‘Most importantly, the drama design has to be finished to some extent before I can start the next project.’
He couldn’t just finish the design; he also had to complete the scriptwriting and even the filming to some degree. Only then could he start his next project without affecting his activities. However, the problem was that designing the drama wasn’t as easy as he thought. A broad concept for a campus youth drama had emerged, but he felt like he couldn’t take that most important single step forward.
‘What could be the problem?’
This had been Taeha’s recent concern. He had been lost in thought for several weeks, but no answer came to him. Fortunately, the outline of the problem was finally beginning to show. The reason Taeha was struggling was as follows.
‘There are no new settings related to campus youth dramas.’
There were works that dealt classically with a lingering, unrequited first love. Works that cheerfully handled a chaotic campus life. Works about the life of a fake college student. Works where a girl starts a new college life after having her face changed through plastic surgery. There were even works that moved the setting from domestic universities to Harvard in the United States.
Works where a guy meets a wild girl and has an eccentric campus life. Works that created a deep story by realistically handling a college band. Works about a male protagonist’s college life with a former idol. Works about time travel where someone returns to the past to change the unhappy fate of the person they love, and so on.
Almost everything that could come out had already been done, all using the themes of youthful love and pain. For Taeha, it felt like he was trying to find a breakthrough in a place where there wasn’t even a gap for a needle to fit through.
It was a situation where his concerns could only deepen. Finally, after finishing the stage greeting schedule and taking a breather, Taeha decided to try shifting his perspective.
‘What kind of story do the viewers actually want to see?’
He decided to look at the campus youth genre as a whole from the perspective of a viewer, not a creator. Thus, Taeha’s focus shifted to the average person who watches campus youth dramas. The majority of people who would feel moved by watching his drama.
Slowly, something began to become clear. And finally…
“This is it.”
A brilliant idea popped into Taeha’s head. He hurriedly opened his laptop and began organizing the thoughts that had surfaced into a proposal.
It was during the third week of < Killer X Killer >’s release, when the audience had surpassed 8.26 million.
***
And one week later.
When < Killer X Killer > entered its fourth week and recorded 9.33 million viewers.
CEO Choi, who had received the proposal along with the First Act script for Taeha’s campus youth drama, muttered to himself without even realizing it.
“…. No way.”